The Easiest Banana Oat Cookies

The holy grail of healthy cooking is to make something so delicious that you want to eat it all day long… and so healthy that you CAN eat it all day long. If the recipe is easy as well, you’re really onto something. These cookies are about the closest thing I have ever found. They are sugar-less, flour-less, easy to make, and so delicious you’d never know they’re healthy.

The base is simply made from mashed banana and rolled oats, with some date sugar, spices, and whatever throw-ins you’d like. Bake them for a few minutes and devour the whole batch yourself 😉 – since it’s hardly more than banana and oats, this is one afternoon snack you can feel good about. The best part is, these cookies are totally foolproof – of the easiest and most kid-friendly recipes I’ve ever posted. You don’t even need to measure the ingredients, just mash a banana, pour in some oats and you’re good to go. They always come out just right.

Makes 12 cookies

Ingredients:

3 bananas

1 3/4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup date sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 pinches cinnamon

Optional add-ins (see below)

Preheat oven to 350º F

Step One

Grab 3 bananas and mash them with a fork until no chunks remain. Pour in about 1 3/4 cups rolled oats and 1/2 cup date sugar*. Use the fork to mix until combined. Stir in a dash or two of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla. Finally, add whatever throw-ins you’d like (see suggestions below) and mix again.

NOTE: Date sugar is not actually a type of sugar. It is simply whole dried dates that have been pulverized into a powder. Thus, date sugar and real sugar cannot be substituted interchangeably. If you don’t have date sugar, blending an equivalent amount of whole dates with the banana in a food processor would likely be the best substitute. I have written about the health benefits of date sugar before and use it often in my recipes.

Step Two

Spoon the batter into 12 rounds and place them on a Silpat or lightly-oiled baking sheet. Cook for about 10-14 minutes, until the outsides become golden and solid. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before eating.

At this point, if you want to melt some dark chocolate and drizzle it over the top, no one would blame you.

Throw-in Ideas

The great part about these cookies is that they’re extremely versatile: you can make them differently every time. The plain cookies (with no throw-ins) work really well, but here are a few other flavor combo ideas:

Chocolate – Chocolate is the most ideal paring with the banana oat flavors in these cookies. Try either adding dairy-free chocolate chips into the batter or melting them and drizzling over the top after the cookies have cooked.

Blueberries – This is the version I make most often. Simply throw a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries into the batter before cooking.

Nuts – Peanut butter is another great paring with these cookies, as are whole nuts, like almonds or walnuts.

Coconut – For a great coconut macaroon-like cookie, add in a small handful of shredded coconut to the batter.

Cinnamon Apple – Cut an apple into small chunks and add them to the batter with an extra few dashes of cinnamon for cinnamon apple cookies.

You get the idea! Have fun exploring flavor combos and let us all know what you come up with in the comments!

These are a great cookie. I make a similar one on my blog but I omit the sugar and add a few tablespoons almond butter, slivered almonds, and dried cranberries. Absolutely delicious and a perfect on the go snack!

I mentioned in the post that you could food process some whole dates with the banana for a similar effect. Or, you can just leave them out all together and they’ll likely still come out well. Good luck! 🙂

Looks delicious! I tried this a while ago when I stumbled on something similar on Pinterest–it recommended nuking mashed bananas and oats. surprise surprise, they turned out bland, gummy, and dry. You’ve inspired me to try again, but this time I’ll make enough to properly bake them, and actually add something for flavor lol 😛

I added in raw cacoa powder – not much, maybe a little less than a 1/4 cup – and they turned out soooo well. All my colleagues were asking for more “chocolate oatmeal” cookies – including the vegan one!!

I made these delicious cookies but used GF Porridge Oats instead of Rolled Oats with being Celiac could you recommend a substitute GF to the Rolled Oats Or are PO my only substitute Thankyou just found your site and love all your Recipies

Hi Evelyn, I’m not too familiar with strict gluten-free cooking, but aren’t there a few types of gluten free oats that might work? If the ones you tried didn’t work as well as you would have hoped, maybe another brand of GF oats would?

The Porridge Oats seemed fine but will ask at the health shop see what they suggest as an alternative most of your Recipies I can adjust to suit, must have been good as my Grandson is away with a box for his packed lunch Thanks again

OK, so I went to make these. Turned out I had no oatmeal…. Well, no-one in our house has an issue with flour, so that’s what I used in a pinch.
My recipe:
3 ripe bananas
1 c flour
1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c Dark Choc Chips
Mash bananas, mix everything in. Bake @ 350 for 15-20 min. Cool for a few minutes… Enjoy!

It mentions here 1 & 3/4 cup of oat. Is the 1 cup here refers to a cup of 250ml? I added 1&3/4 smaller cups of oat and the cookies turn out like cookie cakes instead. Is this cookie suppose to be crunchy? Thanks!

Thanks for this recipe Andrew! These are great and even my BF liked them. No guilt, even after we ate half the batch between the two of us. We baked the first half plain, then made the next half with craisins and added almond extract. Yum. Next time I’ll make these with blueberries and a pinch of nutmeg or try the raw cacao powder version Catherine suggested. This one’s a keeper!

Well I decided to try these instead of wasting 2 horribly ripe bananas. A bit sceptical to say the least.!I added a finely chopped apple and a dash of cocoa. They were fantastic. Bombastic. Unbelievably good. And so quick and easy. My Kids loved them. Never ever buying cookies again. These are really really good. Great recipe

Oh these are good. I added semi-sweet chocolate chips, and substituted about 1/2 cup of brown sugar for the date sugar (perhaps not something that many of your readers would want to add, but it’s what I had on hand and it worked). I also made a little bit of your coconut whipped cream to go on top, which goes great with these, of course.